Send me email updates about messages I've received
on the site and the latest news from The CafeMom Team.By signing up, you certify that
you are female and accept the Terms of Service and have read the
Privacy Policy.

Besides being irresponsible and stupid, is leaving a child in your car also illegal?

I've never done it nor plan to, I'm just curious. I guess it would be some form of child endangerment. But what if the weather is nice and you leave the windows open? Is it different if you are just going to pay for gas or going to the ATM at your bank that doesn't have a drive up ATM?

As the weather warms up, PLEASE be careful to not leave your children/grandchildren/anyone you babysit in the car! I've seen so many stories over the years of children being left inside a hot car. PLEASE be careful!!! Let's have zero incidents of that this year moms.

I think it may be child endangerment in Oregon. My husband's ex left their kid in the car while she SHOPPED at Wal-Mart, then denied it...ugh. I've left my daughter in the car if I've forgotten something in the house, or to check the mail really quick...I've locked her in the house to check the mail or take out the trash. It's my only option right now, because my husband is away in the army.

Leaving children in the car isn't necessarily irresponsible to me. It depends on their ages, for one thing, and where exactly you are. My boys are almost 7, and 9.5. If they stay in the car while I use a walk up ATM, they're fine. I don't make them get out of the car when I pump gas, either. If they're within my sight, or close to, I'm not worried.

Leaving infants/toddlers in a car is an entirely different matter and IS irresponsible.

A few weeks ago, I was walking into a shop with my kids, and passed a car with a sleeping kid in it, age 2ish? It also had a buisiness advertised on the window. I took a picture of the licence plate, the buisiness logo, you could see the kid in it by that time as he wolk up. I had my kids with me, so I went into the store and mentioned it to the clerk. SHe called the police, but the person had left by that time. I called the business up(as, I had the # on the picture.) and left a looonggg nasty message on the answering machine(darn, they were not home) They were from a town about an hour away, or I may have stopped by.... people are just so stupid.